Tuesday, 10 September 2013

Starting at the Front

Small boats can do very well in the Great River Race. They start right at the front, so they don't have to fight their way past a mob of slow, wandering, doing-it-for-the-helluvit boats, rowed by the halt and coxed by the blind.

This year was no exception, the overall winners being The Graham Buoys in Maggie, a Cosine Wherry based in Weybridge Sailing Club that has been rowed to victory in several GRRs in the past. She started at 23 in a fleet of 331.

Half Cut, a (Salter?) skiff, started at 16 and came in 6th.
And our own 15 Seconds, definitely a Salter skiff, rowed by Deborah Pentesco-Gilbert, Aileen McGovern and Shelley Cook and crewed by Jake Gilbert, won the Women Veteran's trophy again in a time of 3hr 12m.

The main problem for the small boats is the notorious lumpiness in the Pool of London, which must be alarming and a bit sick-making...

(Picture of Maggie by Ian Wylie, pictures of 15 Seconds by Hilary Thursby)